PNG data

Posted on August 8, 2017 by gcochran9

Anyone have data on PNG performance in PISA or TIMSS? Or similar info?

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19 Responses to PNG data

  1. Halvorson says:
    August 8, 2017 at 2:18 pm

    If all else fails, you can look at the NAPLAN scores of Torres Strait schools in Australia. The Torres people have a reputation as being a Papuan-Aboriginal mix, but the exact proportions are difficult to pin down. A Y-chromosome study found its two Torres men to belong to group M, which is almost exclusively Papuan. A mtDNA study noted that they carry haplogroups Q1, Q3, P1, and P3 which are again almost exclusively Papuan, but I can’t find complete numbers.

    Here you can find test scores for various schools on Thursday Island:
    https://www.myschool.edu.au/SchoolProfile/Index/104192/TagaiStateCollege/40788/2016

    Here’s a specific example from a school that’s 95% Indigenous:
    https://www.myschool.edu.au/ResultsInNumbers/Index/104192/TagaiStateCollege/40788/2016

    The Australian mean reading score for Year 3 students (seven year olds) is 426 with a standard deviation of 86, so about a 1-1.15 standard deviation difference in results.

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  2. bb753 says:
    August 8, 2017 at 7:01 pm

    Lynn and Vanhanen in their 2006 book, IQ and the Wealth of Nations, gave an improbably high IQ score for Papua New Guinea, namely 83.

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  3. Neocolonial says:
    August 8, 2017 at 8:01 pm

    I grew up there; 83 doesn’t sound unreasonable given their performance at school. At that stage about 1/6 were judged sufficiently capable to complete schooling. There’s also potentially some difference between the Melanesian folk on the coasts and the Papuans in the highlands.

    Both groups I would judge substantially more capable than Australian Aborigines.

    Given the isolation implied by the 1250 languages on the island, I would suspect there is quite some scope for growth in capacity as/if they move towards nationhood rather than isolated tribal arrangements.

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  4. ArgosPanoptes says:
    August 8, 2017 at 8:26 pm

    Anyone got a link to the post (here) on an analysis method for detecting selective pressure on genes?

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  5. Neocolonial says:
    August 8, 2017 at 8:40 pm

    Hmm. It seems very difficult to find data on actual outcomes. It looks like starting in 1993 there has been active efforts to focus on outcomes other than academic (years in schooling, gender equity, etc) in order to meet various agendas.

    There appears to be/have been a Measurement Services Unit that keeps data on performance on the internal testing (final exams in Grade 6, 10, 12). Which could be useful for regional comparison but not so much internationally. This data does not seem to be online, but is referenced in a number of thesis.

    Prior to 93, basically an Australian school system with gating for adequate performance.

    There may be colonial data from prior to 1975… but I haven’t seen it.

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  6. Assistant Village Idiot says:
    August 8, 2017 at 9:56 pm

    I’m figuring it must be at least equal to Han Chinese, and maybe even Ashkenazi.

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  7. James DW says:
    August 9, 2017 at 10:08 am

    The short answer appears to be no on the availability of relevant data.

    I don’t think they’ve done the recent PISA/TIMSS
    I checked the reference used by Lynn, et al. and its not very useful. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED365515.pdf

    The issue with PNG scores (which are close to average) is that only 11% of the relevant population made it far enough in school to take the test. And the test for age 14/grade 9 was taken by average age 17.1/grade 10 in PNG. So the cream of the crop of 17 year olds vs. nearly all 14.5 year olds in Australia (Australia did slightly better).

    If this is really all the data we have then I guess it’s pretty much “say whatever you want”–which is certainly what Diamond does.

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  8. j says:
    August 9, 2017 at 11:48 pm

    The PNG and the Indonesian West Papua are settled by the same people so their educational achievements should be comparable. I could find only one established secular secondary school in Port Moresby and none in West Papua. Thus no PISA scores. But we know that Papuans are very smart, because anthropologist Diamond studied them many years and says so. The native Cargo religion is among a most intellectually demanding theological system, we Westerners can’t even comprehend its depth.

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  9. Neocolonial says:
    August 10, 2017 at 3:55 am

    Clarke, Viney et all, ‘The effects of modelling instruction on the problem solving performance of preschool students in Australia and Papua New Guinea’, International Journal of Psychology, 1975, Vol 10 , No. 3, p181-196

    Weschler Test results for 6-7 year olds in Port Moresby circa 1975. Also comparison of development under instruction with Australian 3-4 year olds(!)

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  10. Neocolonial says:
    August 10, 2017 at 4:07 am

    School and student differences : grade ten examination and assessment results / Christopher J.S. Tuppen 1981 – but not available online that I can see. Available from NLA though if you wanted to chase further.

    Note: Vol 39 in a series of reports by the Educational Research Unit.

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  11. Neocolonial says:
    August 10, 2017 at 4:30 am

    Click to access ED115463.pdf

    COGNITIVE STUDIES WITH STUDENTS IN PAPUA GUINEA, J JONES 1973 ERU Report 10

    Also –

    The Indigenous Mathematics Project: An Overview
    Author(s): David F. Lancy
    Source: Educational Studies in Mathematics, Vol. 12, No. 4 (Nov., 1981), pp. 445-453 Published by: Springer
    Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3482399
    Accessed: 10-08-2017 10:28 UTC

    Multiple test sites across the country as they grappled with stark variations in results.

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